SPOKESMAN SAYS ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS TO DISCUSS KARABAKH IN JUNE

ANS TV, Baku
25 May 07

The spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Xazar Ibrahim,
has said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will meet his Armenian
counterpart Robert Kocharyan in St Petersburg in June to discuss a
settlement to the long-standing Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

In his interview with the "Point of View" programme on Azerbaijan’s
private ANS TV, he commented on the latest visit to the region by
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen and their talks with the Azerbaijani
authorities, but refused to give any details of the negotiations.

He also said that Azerbaijan is in favour of a stage-by-stage
settlement to the conflict, i.e. Armenia should first withdraw
from the seven districts surrounding Nagornyy Karabakh, Azerbaijani
refugees should return to their homes and then the status of Nagornyy
Karabakh should be determined on the basis of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.

Xazar Ibrahim denied reports that a referendum will be held in Nagornyy
Karabakh to determine its status, saying that no referendum can be
held in a breakaway region.